FATE: Amazing number of things fell into place for NC St ie phantom 5th foul on Jordan in ACC Semi,double OT win vs Pepperdine,2 seed UCLA loses before NC St had to play em,Virg losses to Georgia before NC St has to play em,the air-ball vs Houston in final and on and on.The basketball gods were with NC St and Coach V. ENTHUSISM: I saw Coach V at a clinic in Grand Rapids when he coached at Iona,I vividly remember his enthusiasm and humor INNOVATOR: They glossed over Coach V. deliberately foul em late in game when behind stategy which is common today

Players stayed longer, fewer left early at all, and school like Butler weren't on TV at all so the talent was more concentrated. I can't think of too many teams more talented than the Fab Five who didn't cut down the nets ever, but Houston was probably one.

Those 80's tournaments were my introduction to March madness. In succession was the 82 North Carolina/Georgetown game when GT threw the ball to the wrong guy with the game winding down. NC State's great run in 83. 1984 was Olajuwan vs Ewing in the final, 85 was Villanova's great upset of G'town. 86 was Fr. Pervis Ellison and Louisville, 87 was Keith Smarts shot for IU. 88 was Danny Mannings great run with Kansas and 89 was Michigan.

I mentioned this in the previous thread, but the final straw was actually the 1982 ACC finals with #1 UNC vs. #2 UVa. Worthy vs. Sampson. Dean Smith took the air out of the ball and the final score was 47-45 in a nationally televised game on NBC.

I was at that game and bored (almost literally...I was 9) to tears.

And yes, the ACC was incredible in the 80s. You had 15 scholarships to give. That meant you had a full B-team...and a C-team!! In 1982, UNC had a 6-10 kid named Matt Brownlee who couldn't get off the bench. He transferred to Texas and averaged 17 points a game.

UVa had Ralph Sampson, Rick Carlisle (played six years in the NBA and is now the coach of the Mavericks), and Othell Wilson (who played a couple of years in the NBA).

NC State had Thurl Bailey (top-15 pick), Sidney Lowe (bounced around the NBA for a bit) and Derrick Whittenburg. They also had two former Parade All-Americans in Dinky Proctor (he got hurt against UNC in the tournament) and Ernie Meyers. Lorenzo Charles also played in the NBA briefly.

Wake Forest had Danny Young (played about 10 years in the league), Delaney Rudd (played about the same length of time), and Kenny Green (first round draft pick). They also had a guy named Alvis Rogers who would've played had it not been for a very serious knee injury that cost him a year.

Duke was terrible, but had Johnny Dawkins, Jay Bilas, Mark Alarie, and Tommy Amaker all has freshmen and sophomores.

Georgia Tech had Mark Price and John Salley.

And two years later, the talent had increased! Carolina would add Kenny Smith, Dave Popson, and Joe Wolf. NC State would add Nate McMillan and Spud Webb. UVa would replace Sampson with Olden Polynice. Clemson would have Horace Grant and Dale Davis. Wake Forest had Mugsy Bogues. Tech would add Duane Ferrell. Duke would add Danny Ferry.

Then you look up at the Big East...that was the year they had three teams in the Final Four. It was an incredibly fun time to watch college basketball.